In this debut episode, I share my vision for the podcast. Zoho is one of the most robust suite of apps available for small businesses. But like any software, there are challenges in onboarding, support, and having an overall understanding of how to get the most out of the apps you use. This podcast is here to provide tips, tricks, advice, tutorials, and real-life examples of how to use a variety of Zoho's apps in your business so that you are more productive and more profitable!
In this debut episode, I share my vision for the podcast. Zoho is one of the most robust suite of apps available for small businesses. But like any software, there are challenges in onboarding, support, and having an overall understanding of how to get the most out of the apps you use. This podcast is here to provide tips, tricks, advice, tutorials, and real-life examples of how to use a variety of Zoho's apps in your business so that you are more productive and more profitable!
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Welcome to the SoHo, my business podcast. I'm Mark Cerniglia and on my journey to building a $1,000,000 business Zo and using software efficiently was one of the keys to my success. Whether you're a business owner or employees using Zo in your business, this podcast is for you. My goal is to make so easier to use and easier to apply to your specific business so that you can be more productive and more profitable. Hey, everyone, welcome to the first ever episode of the Zo, my business podcast. I'm excited to get this going excited to be doing this first episode and listen whether you are someone who already uses oh ho in your business or maybe you're just someone who is thinking about trying out one of the variety of software products they have, um, or you're just trying to figure out how to use software better in your business, you're in the right place no matter where you fall on that spectrum. The goal of this first episode is really to introduce this podcast and what I'm going to be trying to accomplish in future episodes. There's a variety of things I want to do to try to make so easy to use to help. You kind of figure out howto better, unlock its features. There's a ton of different products you could use in your business, and I think all of them can really make a significant difference in your productivity's your profitability, your efficiency and so forth. So what I want to cover in today's first episode is just kind of a little bit of vision for what this podcast is gonna be all about. I want you to know how Thio leverage the podcast effectively and how to use it well, and then also for those out there that maybe our new twos Oh ho! Or maybe you're only using one or two of the SoHo products. I also want this episode to be a bit of introduction to Zo. So again, no matter where you fall in that camp, whether yours Oh, veteran or you're new to it. This episode is still good for you because we're gonna cover the vision for this podcast and a little bit of an introduction to Zo itself. So let's actually start with the hole. It's not that out of the way. So Zo Ho is really their main product is the C R M, the customer relationship management tool, which every business needs to have a C R M. And actually, our very next episode is going to be dedicated to a C. R M walk through. So I definitely encourage you to check that episode out. But what Zo is really trying to do is they're trying to build an operating system for your business. Just like your computer has an operating system. Zo wants to be ableto check off every box you may ever need, or at least most of them when it comes to your software needs. And so because of that, they've got software from marketing tools like email marketing. They've got the C R M, where you can manage leads and contacts and that type of thing. They've got project management tools so you can create systems and processes. They've got company connectivity tools where you can create chat manuals, document additional systems and processes. They've even got accounting tools, subscription tools. They've even got website building tools, so they've really got a lot of different things. And look, I've always been a person who believes that it's hard to be great at everything. Okay, Whether you're in business in life, it's hard to be really good at everything. So I'll be the first to admit that. I'm sure for every Zo product out there, there's probably another company out there that maybe does a couple things better with that specific product. But Woods Oh ho does extremely well is they make the majority of the tools your business may ever need, and they interact with each other. Well, they integrate with each other. Well, um, and and that is what I think makes the SoHo sweet a really intriguing option for most businesses out there. And what I found along the way, and this kind of transitions into why I'm making this podcast is that there just isn't a lot of help and tutorials and guidance out there for how to get the most out of the software. One of the things Oh ho does really well is almost everything can be customized. Everything can be tailored to fit your needs. And so a lot of times, success in my experience kind of comes at the intersection of understanding how a product was intended to be used and what some of the customized needs of your business are when those two things intersect is when you can really have a lot of success and efficiency that comes from how you use your software and tools. I have been the first person to make the mistake of trying to take software and not really understand how the company that makes us off where intended it to be used and just tried to fit into my kind of my mold in my way right, and I'm sure the opposite exists as well. I'm sure some people kind of just go with kind of how software works out of the box and maybe kind of tweaked parts of their business to fit the software. And I think the real win is at the intersection. So a big part of what I hope this podcast accomplishes for you is makes it easy for you to kind of digest some of the different SoHo products, how they work, how they might apply to your business. One of my goals is to have not only people from SoHo on this show sometimes, but I also want to talk to other business owners who were using different SoHo products in their business. I firmly believe that one of the most underutilized forms of learning is from each other. So I wanna have other people in here who are using Zo in their business, and I want them to share what they're doing, how they're using it, how they've used the software to fit their systems, their process, their marketing, their workflow and what I hope that doesn't. I hope it inspires you to borrow from other people's ideas to learn from them. I also want to make sure we all have a good understanding of how some of the different products work, what some of the features are and what they might mean to your business. That way you can take that information and apply it. And, you know, I want to speak real quick to why this is a podcast, because I thought a lot about where do I want to start? And I think the obvious answer would have been something like creating some videos from tutorials because a lot of what we're talking about his visual, it's all software. These air all cloud based APS, whether it be accounting, C R M project management tools and so forth. Right? These are all in a browser. But here's what I realize. Here is what I thought about me is a business owner. Honestly, the last thing I want to do throughout my dare, the last thing I feel like making time for sitting at my desk, watching some tutorials on how to do something. Um, sometimes where I get my best learning done, my best thinking done is driving in the car every day to and from work. Now, listen, I do. My plan is that videos will come or will come because I do think there eventually becomes intentional time that you carve out in your day for learning. And maybe you are watching some videos. But you are trying to improve how you saw for but where I wanted to start was I wanted to give you something you could easily and certain to your day where you weren't necessarily having a carved time out of your productivity time. Once you're at the office. So my hope for you is whether these air five minute episodes or 30 minute episodes, because it will, very depending on what we're talking about, whether or not. We have a guest. Sometimes my goal just to give you a little bit of a tip for the day or kind of share something new that I've learned or taken advantage of in one of the the Zo APs Other times, it's going to be having someone on to kind of really do a deep dive into how they're making use of one of the SoHo APS in their business. So whether the episodes air longer short, my hope is, is that it's something you can listen to in the car or when you have some free time. And you know what? Maybe it gives you some inspiration for that day. Maybe it gives you something you want to go and try that day. Or maybe it just makes a mental deposit for something you might want to do in the future. Right? For example, Zo Ho. The time of making this podcast SoHo recently came out with the whole marketing hub. I have played around with a little bit, but I have not fully rolled it out my business yet, But I thought to myself, Gosh, I wish there was someone out there who was talking about Zoe. Oh, marketing hub. Um, OK, which is kind of Zoe's answer. Thio hub spot. Okay, I wish there was someone who was playing around with him or talking about it. More sharing how they're using it. Really? Life examples, real life stories. And then sometimes I even get in there, and I don't have been using these. Oh ho. While you probably can relate to this, sometimes you get in there and and you just have questions. You just don't understand how certain things work and how doing thing and something in one place might affect something somewhere else. And so I also want to be that resource to you when I kind of get a better understanding of of how the apse work and how one thing might affect another thing. I want to share that as well. And so I think sometimes the value of this podcast we'll just kind of be those mental deposits that I can help you make, Um, so something you'll come back to later. Overall, the point of software is not for us. This is not for us to spend our days managing the software. The software should help us manage what we need to do every day. So my hope is this podcast will be a resource that helps you spend as little time as possible managing your software. So instead, your software can truly become the resource it needs to be to help you manage your day, your task and your projects. But if there's one thing I've learned along the ways that you do have to devote some time to building systems and processes, you absolutely need to devote some time to figuring out how you can better leverage the software you're using. I don't think there's a lot of people out there being this kind of resource, so I think some people would honestly probably think I'm crazy. Why create a podcast about how to use a suite of APS better? Well, it's simple, because I've realized in my business on my journey to building a seven figure business, that my team works better when the software works well for them. When there was clearly some intentionality going into thinking about how are we going to use the C. R M? How are we going to use the marketing tools? How are we going to use the project management tools. How are we going to use the accounting tools? How will all of these pieces of software talk to each other? How will they automate certain tasks? How will they ultimately make everyone's jobs and days easier? So some intentionality needs to go into that? And I've kind of realized that that was one of the keys to my success. So I'm on a journey here is, well, constantly fearing this out my own business. And really, I'm on a journey here also trying to figure out the best way to deliver my lessons, my experiences and the lessons and experiences of others using Zo to you. So also what's really important along the ways you give me your feedback. What's helpful to you? Longer, shorter? How much in depth do you want me to go? What abs do you want us to talk about more? What do you want us to look at? More If a podcast doesn't work for you, what does? Ultimately, my goal is to see you get more out of the software you're using for you to leverage more of the SoHo APS and ultimately have your business running even more efficiently. because of what the Soho software allows you to. Dio and I should end it with this just so everyone knows I don't work for Zo. Um, I I don't get any benefit from Zo for making this. I'm a paying customer just like anyone else. I actually own a digital marketing business that does Internet marketing for solo and small law firms. That's kind of my claim to fame. That that's what I do well is built that business up. But I'm I'm an entrepreneur. Heart. I like creating. I like new ideas, and I like to build systems. And so I was the one that spent a lot of the time making sure that we were using software that was new, that was relevant, that integrated well with our business and what our needs were. Every day I'm in along the way, I kind of developed a passion for this and really saw just how important it was to really work the software so that the software worked for you. And that's what ultimately led to this today, and starting this podcast is because I really want you guys to feel like getting the most out of your software. I've realized that, um they're for how many's Ojo users there are out there. They're just isn't enough. When it comes to resource is help sharing of ideas, sharing of usage scenarios. And so I want to do my best to bring all of that to you as kind of something that is kind of ah passion project for me, S o u subscribing you listening You commenting that will help me keep going as well, right? Because right now this is I'm not affiliated with Zo. There's no financial benefit for me at this point. Obviously is an entrepreneur. I might look for those opportunities in the future. I think it could be really need toe, create some courses and things like that. And so if that's something you want, let me know. But right now my goal is just to bring value to you guys, bring experiences, bring knowledge so that you can get the most out of Zo. And really, what I'm really saying is I want to create what I wish I had all along, as I have been on boardings Ojo into my business over the last few years. So that's my goal. Is to create for you guys. What? I wish I had all along. So thanks for listening. Episode number one, please subscribe. Please listen to a few more. And I look forward to you going on this journey with me. Thank you for listening to this episode of Soho. My business. Please subscribe to share with others who are using so poor who would simply benefit from using software more efficiently in their business. As I continue to Zo hope my own businesses, I will share what I learn along the way and help you sew yours.